5th Sunday of Lent

The Many Significances and Challenges of the Lazarus Miracle

            With the exception of the Passion and Easter Gospels, perhaps no element of the Gospels is more inspiring than the miracle of the raising of Lazarus that we read about tonight (this morning).  With your indulgence, I would like to spend a few minutes tonight (this morning) taking a close look at this intense Gospel reading according to John.

            We can think of at least three levels of significance in this Gospel. The first is the significance of the people present for the miracle itself.  It must have been a remarkable scene with a torrent of different emotions for the apostles, Martha, Mary, and family members. Suffering, death, grief, doubt, elation they are all there. And make no mistake about it: this is a Super Bowl, seventh game of the World Series, NCAA championship final game miracle.

The Gospels tell us that Jesus raised three people from the dead. In the case of the other two, both individuals may actually have only been on the brink of death, or perhaps in a deep coma from which they arose. But in Lazarus’ case, we are talking stone cold dead. The Gospel refers to Lazarus being dead four days. According to Jewish belief, the spirit of a person stayed with them for three days, hoping that the body might yet be revived. But on the fourth day, a person’s spirit would leave them for the next world, and the human body would be truly and fully lifeless.

So Jesus’ miracle was beyond any human explanation. That this was Jesus’ intent is unmistakable, for the Gospel says Jesus waited two days after he received word that Lazarus was gravely ill. Jesus in fact wanted to make sure Lazarus had died so that there could be no mistake about the nature of this miracle. 

So this miracle was an awesome demonstration of God’s power and the reality of Jesus as God, which no one could deny on the basis of “facts on the ground.” And yet, the miracle had a different and second level of significance for Jesus. At one level, the human Jesus was somewhat disappointed it was necessary for him to work this miracle in the first place. Martha and Mary, as well as Lazarus, were close human friends. Yet he is greeted by both of them with a sense of disappointment. Both of them imply that if only Jesus had come sooner, Lazarus would not have died.  Implicit in this veiled criticism is also the implication that Jesus could still work the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead.

Jesus had told his friends, apostles, disciples, and other followers that HE was the resurrection and the life. He tried to tell them that those who followed Him would never die but have eternal life. He brought them peace, and the confidence that God would never leave them alone and that ultimately they would be reunited with God forever in the next life.

Yet when push came to shove, Martha, Mary and their relatives, and for that matter the apostles were still looking for signs and wonders. When he moves toward the tomb, Jewish ritual practices of crying and mourning in ever-louder ways resumes. Jesus is resigned to the fact that despite everything He told them, human life matters more to them than eternal life

It is said in the Gospel that Jesus weeps. But this is not sorrow for the death of Lazarus only, but also tears of frustration. For God’s Chosen People, after all these centuries, and all these days, months, and years of listening to God literally on the earth, still would not ultimately surrender things of this world. They wanted a loving magician, not a loving God. But because He loved His people so deeply, He would relent and give them what they wanted.

The human Jesus was ambivalent about this miracle for a second reason. For he knew that the miracle, and the reaction to it by friend and foe alike, would surely lead to his Passion and Death, for which He wished at some level He could avoid. Jesus undoubtedly knew that the performance of this most extraordinary of His miracles would bring adulation and followers, but also jealousy, envy, and murderous intent on the part of the religious authorities of the time, who clearly saw their positions threatened by the spiritual and now physical power of Jesus.

In this regard, we can easily the significance of this miracle for Jesus far beyond that of its witnesses. For Lazarus’ own suffering, death, and rising, however remarkable in human terms, was but a mere foreshadowing of Jesus’ own suffering, dying, and rising. This was the miracle that was the last straw for the Pharisees. They were now determined to kill him. It is no accident that in the Church’s liturgical schedule, this Gospel occurs shortly before Holy Week. For the Lord’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection follow shortly after the raising of Lazarus,

This is also why the apostles in this Gospel are so worried about his safety in returning to Judea. They know he has made major enemies in Jewish society. Jesus knows that this miracle was to bring Him great popularity, but it was also to bring Him suffering and death. This was undoubtedly another reason for Jesus’ weeping. But in spite of all of this, Jesus’ loving mercy always is transcendent.

Finally, we must think of the significance of this Gospel for own lives. This Gospel account is intriguing in many ways, but none perhaps more intriguing than the fact that one of the few people not speaking in it is the subject of the miracle itself: Lazarus. And this is also no accident. For if we think about it, we have something rather remarkable in common with Lazarus. Like Lazarus, we too rise from the dead. Even in the same physical sense. Our first reading from Ezekiel reminds us that the Lord will open our graves and bring us home to God. Our second reading from letter of St. Paul to the Romans reminds that God raises us to new life, a life in the Holy Spirit.

But much like Lazarus, there is an uncertainty. We do not know how Lazarus responded to the remarkable gift of new life given to him by Jesus. Was he grateful for what God did for Him? Did he become a determined follower of Christ? Did he love and serve God and others, following God’s laws in spirit and in truth? Did he defend Jesus in the weeks ahead when it was truly dangerous to do so? We don’t know. But we also must thing about something else. We also receive a remarkable gift of new life given to us by Jesus. Are we grateful? Are we determined followers of Christ? Do we love and serve God and others, following God’s laws in spirit and in truth? Do we defend Christ against the assaults against Him in secular society?

God gives us sacraments, remarkable Scriptures like the Lazarus miracle, the joy of service, and the power of prayer to answer that call. In human terms, we sometimes fail and make Jesus weep. But Jesus’ transcendent love and mercy brings us back. We will suffer and die, but with the grace of God, if we follow Jesus, we will rise with Jesus.